February 27, 2007	Tuesday	Safar 9, 1428

The wit and wisdom from Sunday's 79th Academy Awards:

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Could you double check the envelope, please?” — an overwhelmed Martin Scorsese after his best director win.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Queen. Thank you,” — Helen Mirren salutes the woman behind her best actress win.

“When I was a kid, the only way that I saw movies was from the backseat of my family's car. At the drive-in,” — an emotional Forest Whitaker after winning best actor.

“I have to thank Al Gore for inspiring us, inspiring me, showing that caring about the Earth is not Republican or Democrat. It's not red or blue, we are all green,” — “An Inconvenient Truth” song-writer Melissa Etheridge.

“My fellow Americans, people all over the world, we need to solve the climate crisis. It's not a political issue, it's a moral issue,” — Al Gore after “An Inconvenient Truth” strikers Oscars gold.

I'd like to thank Arnold “Schwarzenegger for teaching me that the words 'I can't' should be stricken from my vocabulary,” — Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck after the best foreign language triumph of “The Lives of Others”.

“Valium does work” — “The Departed” screenwriter William Monahan after picking up his adapted screenplay Oscar.

“She was my biggest inspiration for everything, because she was a singer, and she had the passion for it, but she never had the chance. And that was the thing that pushed me forward to continue” — best supporting actress Jennifer Hudson pays tribute to her late grandmother.

“She loves it, man. She's more excited than me,” — best actor nominee Leonardo DiCaprio on his Oscars date: his mum.—AFP